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Juveniles sentenced in White Fire case

Youths on probation for firel; DA says she's not happy with feds' investigation

The second of the juveniles charged with starting the April 2011 White Fire was placed on probation Tuesday.

District Court Judge Karen Parsons placed Konor Mantia on probation after he pleaded no contest to negligent arson, a fourth-degree felony.

"He goes for six months on probation," District Attorney Diana Martwick said after District Judge Karen Parsons accepted the consent agreement. "I will probably go for an extension of that before it ends to make it a total of one year."

"I think it was a very fair offer from the state," Public Defender Angie Schneider said. Schneider represented the 14-year-old. "I agree that it was a complete accident. Even given that though the kids are responsible for their actions, I understand that."

Mantia and Brantan Shaw, 17, were charged with starting the fire that burned 10,341 acres, five homes and other out buildings north and east of Ruidoso Downs.

Shaw pleaded no contest with a similiar consent decree in October. That agreement placed Shaw on probation for six months, then extended his probation to Oct. 16, 2013.

"If we felt this was more than an accident we would have charged it as intentional arson," Martwick said. "Obviously we didn't see that."

Martwick said the fire started away from where the youth were setting the fireworks off.

"I think they were keeping the area around them clear so that didn't start on fire," Martwick said.

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"But this is usually how these fire start."

Martwick said she believed a spark from a firework ignited the blaze, not the firework itself.

"We even found the firework," she said. "That's not what caught on fire. A spark hit somewhere."

According to the U.S.D.A. Forest Service investigation report, one of the boys found a firework and a book of matches April 3, 2011, while visiting one of the boys' grandfather. The Forest Service redacted the boy's name from the report.

The unidentified boy set off the firework, which flew into the air and landed on the forest floor. The fire ignited nearby and when the boy could not extinguish the fire, he called his father and 911.

"The other child (Shaw) we felt was more responsible because he is the one that initiated 'let's go set off fireworks,'" Martwick said Tuesday. "That was there only intent. They never meant to burn down the forest."

The U.S. Forest Service turned over the investigation to Martwick in April 2012, a year after the fire.

"Initally the federal government told me they were going to pursue it but when they found out it was juveniles, they didn't have a lot in their system to basically do anything to these kids," she said.

Martwick said she decided to pursue the case with the evidence she was given by federal investigators.

"Unfortunately the federal government did not do as good an arson investigation as we would have liked to have seen," Martwick said. "But since they took control of the case from the beginning, we didn't get our experts in so the arson report is not as detailed as the state would have done it."

Martwick said that lack of details hampered her in prosecuting the case.

"I don't know if we would have necessarily found different results," Martwick said.

The cost of fighting the White Fire and the subsequent rehabilitation of the land exceeded $4.8 million.

"We put restitution in there," Martwick said. "We sent letters out to the victims identified in the federal report. We have not received the costs back (from the victims)."

Martwick said there is little chance of receiving restitution for the costs of the fire.

"In the juvenile system, I can't force the parents to pay," she said. "(The victims) can do that in their own civil lawsuits but we can't do that."

Martwick said she is limited to what the juveniles can pay from working or what the parents wish to pay.

"I can't go and take the parents' house," she said.

Martwick said the Juvenile Probation Office would determine how much Mantia and Shaw would be able to pay.

"The District Attorney does not do that," she said.

Schneider has maintained throughout the case that Mantia was not responsible for setting the fire.

"This is a young man with no criminal history," Shneider said. "Just a really good kid."

Mantia will serve his probation in Georgia, where he lives with his father.